Grassy Beach evening
Stalk between rails and the Tay
where light stakes out
any primped queen’s lace –
which might be jumped-up hedge parsley.
Touch columbine in scattered couch,
rip yellow vetch, unbutton tansies.
You’ll only hear high tide’s undercut
slap at concrete, slurp up steps.
Smell dog roses by the end of whins.
Can you remember feral apples
snapped round corners?
Your familiar frames the half-dark
slinks into almost possible.
Beth McDonough’s poetry appears in Agenda, Causeway, Interpreter’s Houseand elsewhere; she reviews in DURA. Handfast (2016, with Ruth Aylett) explores family experiences – Aylett’s of dementia. and McDonough’s of autism. She was recently Writer in Residence at Dundee Contemporary Arts.